Tag Archives: motivation

“Seek and you shall find.” Wow! What a big guarantee. If I seek, I shall find? Honestly, that sounds like a cheesy, empty promise that I can find in a fortune cookie in a second-rate Chinese restaurant where they yell at you when taking your order at the counter.

A lot of people are job seekers but they aren’t finding. Some people send out daily applications, visit recruiting agencies, and have created personal branding website things. Often times it leads to the business venture. So many fail in their first year because stuff just couldn’t work out.

Being fit is important to a lot of people. They invest in the athletic wear, get the right supplements, buy a gym membership or home equipment. But it’s hard when you have a big family or a demanding job.

As a country we want change. Our political leadership is failing us, we seem more and more divided, and we just can’t take it anymore. What can we do?

There are people who get jobs, start businesses, are fit with jobs and families, and people who bring about change, however. Are those people different or have some special set of talents? The more I learn from people I admire, it seems not.

Gary Vaynerchuk is one of those online guys who has a big following, started some great businesses, and became a best-selling author. His simple response when asked about what made him so bad ass was “I out worked you. Straight up, I out worked you.”

As a nation, it’s hard to say we’re seeking political change when the average American spends over an hour per day watching TV and being active voting for Project Runway contestants on Twitter, but not one hour per week researching candidates or economic policies.

As a person trying to get fit, it’s hard to say you want a six-pack when you don’t work out because “you don’t feel like it.” Saying you want to start a business but you don’t have time because you have to check out Perez Hilton.

You get where I’m going with this. The first step is honesty. Trusting that what you’re doing right now is exactly what you want to be doing, that you’re lying to yourself when you say you want to be fit as you shove a Twinkie into your face. Every second you’re making a decision. Every second you spend watching TV is a decision to watch TV and not to learn to play the harpsichord or whatever you (say you) want to do. The first step is that honesty…”so this is what is important to me.” How does that sit with you? Does this provide fire under your behind to make you want change? (Related post on embracing dissatisfaction, opens in new window – No Shame In Dissatisfaction)

Some people might respond “well, I’m not willing to give up my side things or distractions. I guess I don’t really want x y or z if it comes at the expense of my relaxation time when I get home from work.” Okay–that is good and dandy. There is nothing wrong with that.

But I want to make you think. I want to impregnate your mind with something that could drive you crazy, crazy enough that over even months of thinking about it, you reach the point you can’t sit. Did you ever wonder: What can you say that you actually tried your best at…and failed?

What have you done where you have sacrificed your TV time, where you have done something when you didn’t feel like it, where you could say you did everything in your power to accomplish, and failed? Could you be rich? Could you change the world? What can you say that you cannot do even if you gave 100% of yourself to? What if you closed off your cell phone and spend all day working on it? Is there something even worth giving this 100% to? It certainly would be a beautiful passion. Something that you’d stop watching TV for, stop doing things that you can admit are not necessary. Can you call yourself a seeker until you have tried?

Aren’t you curious about the extent of your abilities? What would it be like to die and say “I never tested myself?”

Here’s a good video for those who have not seen it. Good motivational tool. “The Secret to Success” by Eric Thomas

Charlie, 23, is a native of Los Angeles, CA and charismatic entrepreneur. He’s also a Jackie Robinson Scholar, a party promoter, and a community benevolent as he actively reaches out and tries to help urban youth achieve their entrepreneurial goals through TheCashFlow.com. In high school, he made some brownies that people loved. They loved them so much that he began to sell them even as he went to college. He literally took baby steps from there to bring his concept to a point where he’s ready for a second round of investment. He has a keen entrepreneurial sense that enables him to keep his overhead low while securing key items like a really nice logo (see below), a beautiful website (www.charliesbrownies.com), and some good photos of his operation.

I really love entrepreneurs, and Charlie is no exception. Anything is possible, everything is an opportunity, and nothing is a dead end. I met Charlie when he did a semester at NYU and I was inspired by the way he handled his projects. It was the first time I really saw business/school/everything occurring to someone like a video game: it’s always fun for him, he can (and does) do it all day long, and if he runs into a problem here, he just keeps on plugging away until he gets what he wants. So I asked him to share what he is up to in hopes of inspiring other people. He’s also a pretty well-connected guy and I know he’s open to talking about new possibilities and opportunities so I would leave his contact information below. Continue reading →

“Just do it,” Nike’s marketing slogan and brilliant piece of advice, is usually not enough gas for the jeep. It makes sense and sounds good, but a lot of the time we just… don’t do it.

You reach a point where you realize that everything is mental. No one can get in the way of your progress as much as you can. Man, what a struggle we were dealt as human beings…if things were different, things would be different. Continue reading →

Persistence and perseverance are not about sticking to your method. They are about sticking to your goal.

To stick to a method that fails you is like banging your head on a wall and waiting for the wall to say “I give up .” It’s a cruddy feeling to “give up” in the heat of the moment, so it seems like a good idea to devise a plan in advance for putting the plan on the chopping block.